


Stories you don't tell

by FanFicReader01



Series: The Library Chronicles [9]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, Debt, Flashbacks, Post-Apocalypse, Slice of Life, murphy centered story, travelling, troubled childhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:13:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26360020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicReader01/pseuds/FanFicReader01
Summary: Murphy and Nikolai get closer to their destination and Murphy starts having bad dreams.
Series: The Library Chronicles [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885000
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Two chapters becos I always get impatient with myself and want the readers to give smth already   
> (If anybody reads it at all becos it's so out of canon/original setting lol)
> 
> And ayy, it's RE cast focused this time :D gotta switch between them and potf cast hueuhueh

Murphy is laying in the small cabin for two. Nikolai is somewhere out on deck. The man barely sleeps. The young sniper doesn’t know how he does it. But a part of him is glad to not have the older man in this confinement with him now. Nikolai would only snarl or laugh at him anyway and that’s the last thing he needs now. They had managed to go up to the ship’s doctor and patch up his foot properly. Despite his effort, Murphy hadn’t been able to suppress the tears that kept welling up in his eyes. Without help of Nikolai, he had gone back to their cabin. A few minutes had passed before Nikolai had appeared again, muttered something in Russian and went back outside. Murphy is trying to sleep but he can’t get used to the waves shaking the entire ship around. He feels he’s getting a headache. When he gets some sleep, he is tortured by nightmares he knows aren’t ‘merely’ nightmares.

_“Where did you get all that food?” Miss Seeker looks at the well-filled table with a suspicious eye._

_“Who cares where I got it from? We finally have some_ real _food on the table since Pa left us!” Zeke, the oldest Seeker brother grunts as he thuds down and already mows down on a piece of beef._

_Murphy looks worried at his mother who reluctantly puts some bread and potatoes on her plate._

_“I just don’t want to start any unnecessary problems with the local gangs,” Miss Seeker sighs._

_“You don’t have to worry about them, Ma. They’ll leave you alone,” Zeke reassures her._

_“_ How _?” Murphy snorts, giving his brother the eye. As much as he loves his older brother, and looks up to him, he knows that Zeke often brings more trouble than anything, intended or not._

_For a split second, Murphy fears for his life but then Zeke’s hardened face turns into a smirk and triumphantly he announces: “Because I joined them.”_

_“Zeke Christopher Seeker!” Miss Seeker jumps up and looks her son in the eye._

_“They won’t bother us anymore as long as I work for them. In fact, they helped me get this food on the table!”_

_“By stealing it?” Murphy hisses under his breath._

_“Say that again?” Zeke now shouts. “What do you do, baby brother? Sit here all day, waiting until the raiders come and take it all away? You should join and becomes stronger too.”_

_“Zeke! He’s still too young to…. To do anything!” Miss Seeker wails._

_The older brother snorts and gets up from the table, his filled plate in hand. “Unlike you, Murphy, I actually try to help protect this fucking family.”_

_“Zeke!” Miss Seeker yells but to no avail._

_Once the night swallows their little house, Murphy gets up to get a glass of water downstairs. When he walks past his brother’s room, he hears gunshots. Too scared to run, and too curious not to run, he sneaks up to the door. He hears a choked voice. Zeke!_

_“M-Murphy. Hel-help me, please!”_

_The young man slowly pushes open the door which makes a louder creaking noise than usual. Murphy is met with a horrible sight: his brother lying on the floor, bleeding out due to the multiple bullet wounds in his gut. With a blood drenched hand he reaches out for his younger brother._

_“Murphy…. H-help me!”_

_“Zeke!” is all the young guy can exclaim as he stands there, frozen and pinned to the floor._

_“You could’ve prevented this if you weren’t so weak!” suddenly a deeper voice sniggers. It comes from a shade that stood in the corner of the room and has no detached itself from the natural shadows. A man with silvery hair looks Murphy right in the eye with a gun._

_“Good night, Murphy,” the man says and pulls the trigger._

The young sniper violently wakes up with a scream. Around him is an uneasy darkness. His head hurts and for a moment his hand rubs over his forehead to make sure there really isn’t a bullet there. He gasps and tries to control his breathing. His eyes get used to the darkness. Nikolai is still not back. He should go look for him. As soon as his body has calmed down, he drops his legs over the mattress and puts his foot on the wooden floor beneath him. He grunts as he has to adjust his weight so to not burden his wounded foot. He grabs the walking cane for extra support and leaves the cabin. The hallways of the ship are badly lit. Obviously, it’s an old vehicle and there are more important things that need the electricity now. Murphy stumbles through the ship until he reaches the deck. There he finds the older sniper against the railing with a cig in the corner of his mouth.

“Murphy, you are awake. Shouldn’t you rest?” The sudden, genuinely sounding care catches him off-guard.

“I did. But had some…bad dreams,” Murphy mutters, avoiding eye contact with the Russian.

“Over two hours we’ll set foot ashore. If I were you, I’d still try catch more sleep.” When the younger sniper doesn’t respond to that, Nikolai adds with a cocky smirk: “Don’t want to carry deadweight.”

_“Where are we going?”_

_“I’m going to teach you how to_ really _defend yourself!”_

_“But Ma-”_

_“Mother doesn’t have to know. Don’t you want to protect her one day when I’m not home?”_

_“Well….”_

_“Then you should learn how to use a gun for real!”_

The loud horn of the boat and the chattering of people wake Murphy up from his less troubled dream. This time when he opens his eyes, Nikolai sits on the bed next to him. He is readying his baggage and strapping a few weapons to his body. “Time to go, Seeker.” Murphy gets up as quickly as he can, swings his bag on his back, takes up the cane and follows the older man outside. A lot of people are already walking toward the exits. Now it shouldn’t take too long to get to the Library of the West.

\--

“You spot anything yet?”

“I think there’s a caravan not far from us. We should be able to catch up.”

“How many?”

“About five… no, wait. Six people.”

“Do they have anything special on them? Something of value?”

“I think they’re…Messengers. They do not seem to have much on them, though. Except those books.”

“Books,” Nikolai grunts. Most of them are just paper waste. However, there _are_ some that are of unfathomable prices and he wants his apprentice to get a hold on one of them. “Good. Maybe we should join them.”

“Join them?” Murphy hesitates. Usually Nikolai isn’t fond of travelling in large groups.

“Avoid suspicion when we arrive at the Library,” the Russian explains as he’s already preparing to leave their hiding spot and join the caravan. Murphy tries to quickly follow his steps and not much later Nikolai walks up to the group of travellers, his own Messenger badge in hand.

“I can offer extra protection, in exchange of you sharing your resources with us.”

The group discuss from a distance and Murphy gives his superior a questioning look. “Where’d you get those books you offered them? Wait, don’t tell me, I know.”

“Good.”

“What are we going to do afterward? Once we reach the Library?”

“We just separate. Take what is ours. What? You thought I was going to gun them down?” the Russian chuckles at the reputation he has but then shakes his head. “Even _I_ will follow the Rules if profitable.”

Then the leader of the caravan walks up to them and welcomes them in their group for their mutual journey to the Western Library. Murphy notices the old man has a Russian accent as well. Said man now looks at him.

“How are you doing, kid? That foot of yours doesn’t look good.”

“It’s healing…slowly. But I’ll get by.”

“Ah, I see. My name is Mikhail Victor.”

“I’m Murphy. Murphy Seeker,” he politely replies, he feels he has no other choice but to answer honestly, despite his brother and Nikolai’s teachings to never give out your real name to strangers.

“And that grumpier guy is?” Mikhail briefly points at the other Russian.

“That’s…Nikolai. He never told me his surname. Your description is only a small part of what he can be,” Murphy laughs nervously, certain Nikolai probably can’t hear him at this distance.

“Is he…related to you?”

“No. But he took me as sniper apprentice. Sort of,” he reveals, almost surprised by how open he is to this total stranger. But Mikhail looks like a guy who has been through a lot, seen a lot, and has softened despite the harshness of the world.

“You’re a sniper, heh? You don’t look like a killer,” Mikhail chuckles.

The younger man goes quiet, suddenly ashamed of the lives he’s taken even if some were done as a result of self defence.

_Countless ruthless eyes are on him. Judging, mocking, anything but positive._

_“This is my baby brother, Murphy.”_

_“What is that runt doing here?”_

_“I want him to join our ranks,” Zeke’s statement is met with laughter. “I swear, he’ll be a great asset some day.”_

_“Are you sure he is worth it? Look at the poor thing, it’s trembling already.”_

_“Murphy? Mur-!”_

_Bang! In a millisecond Zeke is no more._

“Zeke!” Murphy awakes to _real_ gunshots around him. As he struglges out of his small tent, the caravan group are protecting themselves from sudden raiders. In a panicked state, Murphy tries to gun a few raiders down but misses a few shots. Mikhail, the old man, seems to be a better shot as he manages to shoot one raider with frightening accuracy. Nikolai’s skills come in handy and the speed with which he executes his enemies, make the remaining raiders run for dear life. The group is astonished and speechless. Their leader speaks up first. “You’re a great gunman. Thanks for staying with us.”

“Hey, we made a promise, right?” Nikolai chuckles. It’s almost weird to see the usual cold bastard act so amicable with other people.

“Is everyone alright?” Mikhail asks around the camp. Slowly everyone calms down and restore some of the damage those fiends made.

“Maybe we should pack up and continue travelling,” Nikolai suggests to the older Russian who eventually agrees. The Library isn’t far away anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dsfkdslj _finally _this fico is finished!!_  
>  Lol, took me longer than wanted and it's still not entirely what i wanted but at least in my long draag to get it done, i found a solution to the problem lol._
> 
> _  
> _Life got in the way xD_  
>  _

In the early noon the group of people enter the Library domain. Merchants and all sorts of people are gathered here. Mikhail and his companionship remain at this place to rest a little before making their final trip to the actual Library.

“Take care, Murphy,” the old man smiles as he watches the sniper duo leave the company.

On their way, Nikolai starts walking closer to Murphy and reminds him of his goal here. “Remember, you are not leaving until you provide me with the book. Or the _books_ , if there are more like it.”

“Got it, got it. Geez.”

Together with a few other visitors they step inside the magnificent building. While Murphy is still amazed by the design and the interior’s scale, Nikolai is already scanning the space with a tactical approach.

“Can I help you with something?” a woman with brown hair in a sunny dress with strawberries print suddenly approaches the two men.

“Just looking around,” Nikolai huffs before quickly marching out of sight. The woman stares after him before focusing on the young sniper. “You’re with him?”

“Sort of. Eh-, I’ll be on my way. Just… looking around too,” he mutters before strutting off as well, hoping he hasn’t raised any suspicion by the woman who is assumingly a worker here or even the Librarian. He should approach his mission properly, not waste precious time. Just like his mentor, he tries to memorise the layout of the Library and tick off all categories he most likely _won’t_ find what he needs. Non fiction and religion will be the main categories he should explore. He meets Nikolai in a room entirely dedicated to books on war. The room is rather dusty. Some hand prints on some books hint at least someone has nosed around here.

“You go find that information. I will amuse myself with these books in the meantime,” Nikolai says, hinting at Murphy to kindly fuck off. Unbeknownst to the older man, he rolls his eyes before leaving the room and walks down the hallway in search of the right section. He ends up in a room where a whole rack is on the topic of religion. Old practices from before the Disease hit their world and wiped out a big part of the familiar and known, together with people whose memories were still attached to that world.

Murphy picks up a few books that seem to deal with the contemporary world and thuds down on the wooden floors. They make a creaking sound whenever he subtlety shifts. Paranoid, he looks around him to make sure nobody is watching him. Once he feels safe enough, he pulls open one of the books.

“Assumptions, assumptions. Speculations but no hard facts,” Murphy grunts after he is going through the third book already. Some of these books are still talking quite a lot about the past and about these other Gods but none have really touched upon the Divinity of _this_ _current_ world. It frustrates Murphy to no end and he wonders if a book with a clear view on the matter even exists. Then again, this Library contains perhaps millions of books. But to wade through them all seems to be an impossible task. He wonders if Nikolai is just messing with him, torturing him by giving him this mission.

“Looking for something specific?” A female voice startles the young man and he quickly smacks the book shut as if it would hide what he’s reading.

The woman from before stands two meters away. Under her arm she has a some bag and in one hand she holds a tin cup. The smell tells him there’s coffee inside.

“I-, well, ehm…”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. But you look lost, I could make searching easier, if you want,” the woman says with a smile. Murphy stares at the title of the book on his lap: _Curious findings on the world today._ He then looks up at the woman who must be the Librarian.

“Okay.” He gets on his feet and realises he is much taller than her. Still, even if he is in a physical advantage, he feels nervous and wonders if he looks as nervous as he is inside. “W-well, I’m just looking for some information about the Divinity.”

“The Divinity? Interesting topic, huh,” she smirks and goes along without seeming suspicious at all.

“More people digging into this stuff?” Murphy tries to sound as casual as possible. The young woman nods.

“Yeah. For all kinds of reasons. But most people are just fascinated by such unfathomable force. Others don’t believe in any godly nonsense and try to debunk the sightings and information that do exist.” She goes through the shelves he looked through before. She picks up a few other books he didn’t even notice or considered useful.

“You’re the Librarian, right?”

“Yes. Name’s Jill. And you?”

“I’m Murphy.” Before he even has to think about expanding on his life, Jill puts the chosen books into his hands. “These might help. Alright, if you need me, I’m usually downstairs. And else you can ask Chris to get me.”

“Chris?”

“Taller, not as tall as you though, a bit buff, short brown hair.”

“Ah, okay. Sure, thanks, Jill.”

The Librarian leaves and he is left to his own devices again. In all the time he is reading through all the books, Nikolai hasn’t visited him once. At one point, he wonders if Nikolai has just left him and that this entire bullshit task was just a way to get rid of him without killing him off. Murphy keeps some of the books, puts them in his backpack and goes down to the ground level. His boss is nowhere to be seen but he does spot Jill. She is talking with a few other people, probably helping them and scanning some books before she turns her attention to him.

“Hey, Murphy! Found what you were looking for?”

“Mmm, yeah… not entirely sure,” he mutters, avoiding her eyes. “By the way, have you seen Nikolai?”

“That grumpy, older guy with the silver hair? Hm, haven’t seen him anymore ever since he disappeared from my vision. Something the matter?”

“Not really,” Murphy sighs, almost relieved. It’s noticeable and Jill shoots him a concerned look.

“If you want to talk about something, you can. I’m going to take a late lunch break. You can join me, if you want?”

The young man quickly scans the environment, fearing that Nikolai might be prying around. But there’s really no sign of him at all so he agrees to join the Librarian.

As she goes outside the Library, she first talks to Chris.

“Is he your bodyguard?”

“Sort of. But sometimes he can be overprotective,” Jill chuckles. “Let’s go. Downtown they have great snacks.” The duo walks past some small stands and the Librarian greets everybody. It feels like a real community, something Murphy hasn’t been a part of for quite a while. He doesn’t really want to count the gang as a family or anything. They sit down on some cheap, plastic chairs with their new ordered sandwiches. When Murphy was fishing in his wallet for coin, Jill had stopped him and insisted it was on her.

“So, what’s on your mind?” she immediately gets to it.

Murphy stares at his food before taking a bite. He swallows thickly. He really shouldn’t be telling her his ‘mission’ or anything but something tells him Jill can be trusted. Even more so than his goddamn mentor. “It’s…. Nikolai. Kind of. And those books.”

Jill nods. “He doesn’t look like a fun guy to be around.”

“He truly isn’t. He can be so tyrannical. Urgh, he’s a maniac who only lives for stupid bounties-, well, the money that comes from it.”

“Oh, he’s _that_ kind of person,” Jill grits her teeth and looks a bit distant. Murphy guesses she has met people like that too. “To be honest, I would rather not serve such kind, but as a Librarian I too have to stick to the Rules. Which means I have to help and serve everyone who enters my Library.”

“Must be tough sometime.”

“Sometimes. But it’s alright. Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?”

“Well…,” Murphy’s eyes shift around the place, still no sign of Nikolai. “He wanted to make me search for something in your Library.”

“Knowledge about the Divinity?” Jill raises her eyebrow. She seems confused. “Why that?”

“I don’t know. I think he hopes to use or harness its power or something. I’m not sure either but it can’t be any good,” Murphy confesses. A part of his heavy luggage seems to be lifted.

youThe Librarian is at loss for words before she cackles amused. “I doubt he’ll find anything useful here. Half of the people don’t even believe in the supernatural. And if they do, it’s like chasing literal Spectres. Useless.”

“Then you don’t know Nikolai. He’s cunning, super resourceful. Really good at what he does. I’m kind of jealous of his skills. But not how he uses them.”

“If I may ask then, why are you with him?”

“Believe it or not, I owe a debt to him. You see, Zeke, my older brother used to be in some raider gang. Nikolai happened to be part of it too. Of course that bastard would join whatever brings him the most profit. Anyway, skip a few years and my brother is in some stupid, shitty fight and on the battlefield he dies.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Jill gasps.

Murphy shakes his head. “It’s okay. I-, I’m getting over it. However, my brother asked Nikolai to watch over me, teach me how to survive better. Don’t ask why of all people, he picked that asshole but I guess at the time Nikolai was the most reasonable choice. Anyway, that bastard doesn’t do anything for free. So here I am, trying to repay my debt by not being a liability to him.”

“God, that’s awful. I’m sorry. Is there no way you could… part ways with him?”

“I think he’ll kill me for sure,” Murphy outs his fear. “I’m actually surprised he hasn’t done so already.”

Silence downs on them and quietly they finish their lunch.

“I should get back to work,” the young man says but Jill stops him.

“And do what? He won’t find the answers in these books, I can reassure you and him.”

Murphy shrugs his shoulders helplessly.

Suddenly Jill looks like she’s seen the light. She smiles and starts walking back to the Library.

“Wait? What’s going on?”

“I’ve got a solution. You _can_ get back to work. Just not for him, but for _me_.” The woman looks hopeful. When he doesn’t immediately reply, she stops and frowns: “What you think of that?”

“I don’t know. I mean-, how could I even be of help? I can’t exactly go shoot people in the Library.”

Jill chuckles. “No, no you can’t. but you could run errands for me. Maybe become a Messenger? Or a delivery guy.”

For a second, Murphy feels euphoric, but as they start walking and get closer to the building again, he shakes his head. “Nikolai wouldn’t allow it. Fuck, fuck… He might as well kill me now.”

“Don’t say such things. The Library is your safe place now,” Jill insists. Without further words being exchanged, they get back. At the counter stands Nikolai with an open book in one hand. His eyes meet Murphy’s almost immediately.

“Well, well, well… Drifting off?” The Russian snarls.

“Taking a break. Your task is impossible and useless,” the younger sniper counters. Nikolai claps the book shut and puts it on the counter. Slow, but intimidating nonetheless, he struts forward.

“Ji-, the Librarian told me so. There are no useful books on the matter.”

Nikolai’s eyes seem to shoot cold fire. “ _You told her?”_ he hisses, now eye to eye with the taller guy.

“Yes. But don’t you dare lay a finger on him. He works for me now,” Jill jumps into the conversation. She stares the Russian down until he lowers his stern posture.

“Since when?”

“Since today. We talked, yes. And whatever you thought would be possible with more knowledge about the Divinity, it won’t get you far. Even if that…. Such thing exists, it must be incredibly neutral. It won’t pick a side, nor will it bend to some mortal’s will and set of morals.”

Nikolai opens his mouth to say something but whatever it is, it doesn’t come out. Instead, his lips get tightly sealed. His nostrils flare subtlety. Murphy notices how his hand goes to his gun holster and how it hovers over it idly but determined.

“I hope you know the rules,” Jill comments.

It makes the older male chuckle. “Of course, Miss Librarian. But _I_ am protected by these silly Rules as well now. However, outside the Library and its legal domain-”

“He will also be protected. He’s a Messenger from now on,” Jill cuts him off. Murphy stares in awe but also remains on edge. He remembers that Nikolai often bends the Rules to his personal gain and the young sniper did not forget how Nikolai got that badge to safely cross the Ice Pass. But for now, he should be safe.

Nikolai tsks. “I see.” He turns to the young sniper. “You have chosen to abandon the mission and me. Our paths will come to an end then. Although you can now stand on both legs all by yourself, you still cannot run. Alas, during our time together you’ve been more of a strain than a profit to me, but killing you off would be a waste of a bullet. So count yourself lucky that for now I decide to let you go free. Just know, that if you ever get in my way, I won’t hesitate twice to put an end to the Seeker bloodline.”

The bounty hunter picks up the book and grins at the Librarian: “I’ll take this with me as a little compensation. Good afternoon to you.” Utterly stunned, Murphy gawks at the man who had been belittling and torturing for years, walk out like that.

“You-, you think he sticks to that word?” Jill snaps him out of his astonishment.

Murphy slowly nods. “Yeah… Yeah, definitely that last part. But damn, I’m so useless, he wouldn’t even wanna spend bullets on me.” The woman steps closer to him and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Feel free to stay here as long as you need. I’ll fix you your Messenger badge tomorrow. Even if you don’t reconsider.”

“Thank you, Jill. I don’t know, I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Spread the word of this Library, deliver and bring some books from place to place would be a good starts,” she winks before adding: “But no, you don’t owe me anything. I try to keep this place as cheap and accessible as possible.”

“I’ll make sure I’m worth your time and resources! Thank you so much!” Murphy exclaims. After she had basically saved his sorry ass, working here would be the least he could do. Even if she insisted to not need any compensation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the convo and all with Nikolai was much more exciting, dramatic and tense in my head but lol. This is what i managed to write :')
> 
> Also, school starts again next week so who knows when the next oneshot appears ahhaha (not that it has always stopped me from writing tons of shit before lol but still)

**Author's Note:**

> Can't exactly tell when my next chapter will come out, might take a while woopz


End file.
